Innovation, invention
and eggs:
AninterviewwithJamesM.Nield
Jim Nield entered the egg industry
in 1966 as a sales engineer with
Diamond International. He progressed to sales manager and in 1975
was appointed president of the company. In 1983, along with David Keen,
he purchased Diamond which was then
subsequently
sold to the
Talon Group.
He continued
his association
with Diamond,
assisting with
marketing,
trade shows
and engineering. When the
company was
sold to Moba
Jim Nield
in 2008 he
established
Detroit Design Group, an engineering
rm specializing in the development of
egg processing systems and other industrial technology.
His achievements include the development of the rst 120-case per
hour grader in 1975 and the Diamond
8200 series in 1983. In 1990 he was
instrumental in introducing in-line
egg breaking. Nield received the rst
USDA approval on a multi-row egg
breaker in 1994. He holds patents for
cages, graders and breaker-separators.
Jim has served as chairman of Allied
Industry for the American Egg Board
and United Egg Producers and has
served as a member of the Exhibitor
Committee for the International Poultry Exposition.
Egg Industry: You have started an
engineering company, Detroit Design
Group. What will your Group be doing?
Jim Nield: I decided to initiate a
number of projects which would apply my expertise gained over 42 years.
I was joined in this endeavor by six
engineers who wanted the opportunity
to be very creative. We are working on
improving egg grading, inoculation of
eggs for human vaccine production and
have untaken projects in robotics.
EI: Who will be working with you
in DDG?
JN: We have an outstanding group of
mechanical, electrical and software engineers. It is exciting to have four generations of talent in one room. George
Bliss who developed the rst blood detector in the late 1940s, and then crack
and dirt detectors, is as creative as ever
even though he is approaching 90 years
old. Our engineers range from the 20s
right on up. The output from brainstorming sessions has been very productive and the passion and knowledge
they have for the industry really moves
the projects along very quickly.
EI: What is your biggest surprise
since you have returned full time to the
industry?
JN: I’m amazed at how three separate engineering groups from three different disciplines can work so well together. Our teams communicate freely
through video conferencing and frequent trips with great suggestions and
mutual respect for each other’s knowl-
